Capacity Building

Our knowledge sharing activities reflect our commitment to prompting new thinking about
planning, evaluation, capacity building, and grants management, all in an effort to help the field achieve
greater social impact.

Our staff regularly publish and present insights from our work and develop new frameworks, tools, and resources
for the social sector. TCC Group's knowledge is typically shared through a number of formats, including briefing
papers, presentations, webinars, articles in leading publications, and our newsletters. Feedback is very
important to us, and we invite your comments on these materials.

To receive copies of any of our materials or to request permission to reprint or redistribute them, contact our
Marketing Department at (212) 949-0990 or info@tccgrp.com.

Books & Publications

This article discusses an assessment of 54 foundations that participated in taking a new tool, developed for funders by
TCC Group, to explore five core capacity areas shown to be central to organizational effectiveness. The Foundation Core
Capacity Assessment Tool’s findings should not be seen as a report card, but rather a data-driven prompt for reflection
and collective learning.

Capacity Building 3.0: How to Strengthen the Social Ecosystem argues that it is time for a renewed
conversation about capacity building. For years, the approach to capacity building has been limited to the
capacity of nonprofit organizations. Today’s environment calls for a new framework that understands all
actors to have their own capacity needs.

For many years, the social sector has paid substantial attention to the issue of nonprofit effectiveness. By contrast,
comparatively little attention has been paid to the capacities that foundations themselves need to achieve impact.
What capacities are essential to advancing a foundation’s own mission? How do these elements compare to the capacities
their grantee partners need?

We believe that foundation capacity – like nonprofit capacity more broadly – is essential to impact. In developing the
FCCAT and sharing aggregate findings in this report, our core purpose is to elevate attention to this important issue.

TCC Group highlights the factors that determine a nonprofit's sustainability. He discusses the roles
leadership, adaptability and program capacity play in an organization's success, and provides
capacity-building recommendations for nonprofits to stay strong a shifting economy.

In an effort to develop frameworks and methodologies to be able to meaningfully evaluate policy change efforts, TCC Group
conducted an evaluation of a cohort of advocacy organizations who were receiving general support from The California
Endowment. This resulting paper draws on a variety of sources, looking at the context for policy and advocacy work and
the distinctive characteristics of such work, outlining a model for evaluating organizational capacity and describing
how this is adapted for advocacy organizations. This piece serves to benefit foundations who want to expand and improve
their grantmaking to advocacy organizations, but feel limited by their ability to understand how to assess potential
grantees or their capacity to carry out the proposed activities; as well as provide insights to evaluators themselves.

What are the crucial ingredients for an effective coalition or network, and how can they be cultivated and evaluated?
Director of Evaluation Jared Raynor shares TCC's research
on best practices with regard to effective advocacy coalitions.
This work was commissioned by The California Endowment, a leading funder of policy advocacy efforts.

Senior Partner and Chief Client Services Officer Paul Connolly helps nonprofit leaders
identify their organization's stage of development and anticipate and navigate future passages for success. Using a
practical roadmap, leaders learn how to become more knowledgeable and proactive about changes.

Paul Connolly and Carol Lukas synthesize the most recent capacity-building practice and
research into strategies, steps, and examples to help funders improve their grantmaking to strengthen nonprofits. Click
here to order.

Paul Connolly recently presented at the Association of Small Foundations, where he discussed how foundations
– large and small – can support nonprofit capacity building. Read Jennifer Ratay’s recent
blog about the session.

Paul Connolly offers guidance for funders about how to plan, implement, and evaluate
long-term, capacity-building initiatives. These programs offer grantmakers an opportunity to increase their impact
beyond project-based support, but also introduce greater complexity into the grantmaking process.

As part of TCC Group's Cohort Consulting services, our Evaluation Department offers an
effective and cost-efficient way to help groups of grantees build purposely build their evaluation capacity,
including an evaluation design and products and tools that may used in an organization's
evaluation.

Today, as society relies more and more on nonprofit organizations to provide critical
services, grantmakers and their nonprofit grantees share common concerns: how to make better use of limited resources in the face
of growing need, and how to stay the course and reach established goals in a volatile, changing environment.
This paper provides insight for funders on how to enhance the organizational effectiveness of their grantees
and provide capacity-building assistance.

Presentations & Webinars

How can an organization or funder know if they are on track to accomplish advocacy objectives? Derived
from research and evaluation, Director of Evaluation Jared Raynor addresses the critical capacities
associated with policy and advocacy work and helps participants better understand what to look for
regarding organizational capacity for conducting advocacy activities.

At the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations 2012 National Conference, Paul Connolly discusses
capacity-building ecosystems with Kit Gillem, Program Director at the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and
Fred Ali, President and CEO of the Weingart Foundation. View the presentation
here.

Jamie Baxter of the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network and Latonya Slack of the James
Irvine Foundation join TCC Group's Paul Connolly and Susan Misra to discuss the crucial steps funders should
consider when designing capacity-building programs, offer tips on how to work with grantees, and share
first-hand experiences and lessons learned in this webinar.

TCC Group's Senior Partner and Chief Research and Learning Officer Peter York highlights the factors that
determine a nonprofit's sustainability. He discusses the roles leadership, adaptability and program capacity
play in an organization's success, and provides capacity-building recommendations for nonprofits to stay
strong in a shifting economy.

Even before the economic downturn, corporate funders were under pressure to "do more with less." During
this webinar led by TCC's Corporate practice, TCC outlines strategies
to prioritize and focus your efforts, dollars, and resources. By defining and staying true to your
organization's company's core strengths and identity, you can rethink your "portfolio of programs"
to build relationships with stakeholders and meet reduced budgets without losing your desired impact.
TCC also provides ideas and concepts for building efficiencies that may be needed during staff reductions.

TCC Group shares the results of new data collected from a recently conducted survey of over 700
nonprofit organizations. In this podcast recorded with the
Foundation Center's
library director Charlotte Dion, TCC's Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Pete York
discusses common characteristics of successful nonprofits.

TCC Group Associate Director Susan Misra and Alice Hill are joined by their client, Bob Ross, President
and CEO of the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation to examine the importance of strengthening
organizational capacity as a key way to build sustainability. Specifically, they will talk about the
Challenge Fund for Journalism, a capacity-building and fundraising initiative aimed at the journalism
sector.